I was refused to pick up my son from his school.

Reason; I was not mentioned as his mother or any close relatives.

“Is this a kind of joke? I’m his mother!” I almost lost my calm on the security guard. In return, he only looked at me with a pair of suspicious eyes before saying,

“We know who his mother is. She picks him up everyday. And, it's clearly not you.”

“I’ll let him go only when Mr. Jake Vance or Linda Vance come to pick him up, that is Leo’s biological parents.”

Linda Vance. Jake’s sister-in-law.

The blood in my veins didn't just run cold, it turned into shards of ice.

"Linda Vance?" I repeated, my voice cracking on the name. "Linda is my sister-in-law. She’s... she’s his aunt."

The guard didn’t even blink. He tapped the laminated emergency contact card clipped to his clipboard. "The file says 'Mother: Linda Vance.' It’s been that way since enrollment, ma'am. And frankly, the boy calls her 'Mama.' I’ve seen it myself for two years."

Two years. Leo had started at this prestigious private academy shortly after I finally returned from my extended recovery in the Swiss Alps—the one Jake insisted I needed because my "post-partum nerves" were too fragile.

He had handled all the paperwork. He had chosen the school. He had told me I didn't need to worry about the morning drop-offs because he wanted me to rest.

There must be some confusion I thought. But, I did not argue with the guard. I simply took a photo of the contact card and rushed back to see Jake.

How could he possibly make such a mistake, giving Linda’s name in place of mine?

The drive home was a blur of white knuckles and screeching tires. It’s a clerical error, I told myself, though the lie felt like ash in my mouth.

I slipped through the heavy mahogany front doors, my breath coming in jagged gasps. I didn't call out for him. I didn't drop my keys. Something in the suffocating silence of the foyer told me to move like a shadow.

The sound of a giggle led me to our bedroom. The door was ajar—just a dim light on.

“You called me to your den in broad daylight. What if your wife finds out?” Linda’s voice drifted out, provocative and seductive.

“She won't!” Jake smirked. “She is gone to pick up Leo.”

“By the time she returns, we will have finished.”

I froze. My hand, halfway to the door handle, began to tremble.

Jake and Linda. Together in our bed?

The world seemed to tilt on its axis. and I barely managed myself from collapsing.

“You sent her to Jake’s school?” Linda’s voice sounded, packed. “What if she finds out?”

“You removed her fetus and inserted ours when she was pregnant and let her deliver our baby. Are you really not scared if she discovers the truth?”

"Relax, Linda," Jake’s voice was smooth, the same velvet tone he used to lull me to sleep when I complained of headaches.

"Even if one day she finds out, there is nothing to worry about. She pours her heart into raising Leo… so that we can enjoy ourselves, isn't she?” He joked. And the sound of clothes rubbing against each other echoed in the room.

I could hear Linda giggling beneath Jake. Still, she was not satisfied. She began, “What if-”

“There is no if, Linda.” Jake shut her off, the voice almost sounded like a peck on her lips before he continued. “She is harmless now that she can't have her own baby.”

"The 'vitamins' the clinic in Switzerland put her on? They weren't for her nerves. They caused chronic uterine scarring. By the time we brought her home, she was completely sterile. She’ll never carry another child. She’ll spend the rest of her life clinging to Leo because he’s all she thinks she has left."

I felt the floor drop out from under me. The ‘miracle’ recovery. The daily supplements he insisted I take. The ‘post-partum’ pain that never quite went away. He hadn't been healing me; he had hollowed me out.

"It was a perfect swap," Linda sighed, her voice dropping to a low, intimate purr. "The nurses at that clinic were paid well. Stacy’s real baby... well, it’s a shame it didn't survive the 'breach.' But Leo? My Leo is Vance through and through. Your father’s millions stay in our pocket, and Stacy gets to play nanny for the rest of her life."

I backed away from the door, my heart hammering so hard it felt like it would burst through my ribs.

My recovery was a prison.

My son was the evidence of their adultery.

And my body was a graveyard they had built together.

I reached the foyer and gripped the banister to keep from collapsing. A cold, predatory fire ignited in the pit of my stomach, burning through the shock. They had taken my health, my child, and my future. They thought I was an empty vessel.

Just then the front door swung open. The school guard came to drop Leo home. I stood paralyzed as Leo ran towards the bedroom, his small face glowing.

"Leo," I choked out, reaching for him with trembling hands. "Mommy’s here."

Even if he was not my… biological son, I still raised him for three years before Jake made me reluctantly leave.

He was my son!

But, he flinched, stepping back as if I were a stranger.

"You're not Mommy," he muttered, his voice cold with a learned disdain that didn't belong to a child.

"Auntie Stacy is always sad and messy. Mama Linda says you're just the lady who lives in the guest wing."

“Because of you Mama Linda can't stay here. I hate you. I hate you.”

The boy I had bled for, the boy whose every nightmare I had soothed looked at me not with love, but with the same chilling apathy as the man upstairs.

“Fine” I spat, letting go of the last of the warmth my heart had,“Call Mommy whoever you want. I’m done.”

I let go of the last string holding me back to this home, to this family.

Now, I was done being the perfect wife and mother, this crown of lies- I will rather throw it away!

The noise finally drew the monsters from their lair. Jake appeared at the top of the stairs, hastily buttoning a shirt, his face flushed. Behind him, Linda leaned against the doorframe, wrapped in a silk robe that was far too familiar. She didn't look afraid, she looked content.

“What is she doing in my bedroom?” I asked, staring at Jake.

“Linda came to visit you, Stacy. She stained her dress with the cake she brought for Leo. So, I gave her your nighties.” He explained, not a single curve of hesitation appeared on his forehead, a sign how good he was at lying that I could never see before.

“Mama Linda…” Leo threw himself in Linda’s arms, kissing her cheeks affectionately he said, “I miss you, Mama Linda. Why don't you stay with us anymore?”

“It seems like you have been visiting Jake and Leo more oftenly, Linda. He is closer to you than I, as if you are his biological mother.” I said, the word sounded so bitter that I almost bit my tongue.

“While you were away, Linda used to take care of Leo. It's natural he will be close to her. Don't overthink too much, Stacy. Leo is your child.” Jake answered, his voice ever so convincing to believe.

Linda walked into the kitchen and came back with a papaya cake in her hand.

“Look, What I have brought for you!” She said, showing the cake in front of Leo. Leo’s eyes lit up. He quickly grabbed the spoon and was about to dig in.

My mother’s instincts worked ahead as I held his hand and looked at Linda, “Do you know how much sugar this cake contains? Is this how you have been taking care of my child while I was away?”

“Stacy… I-I made this with my own hands. What's wrong in letting him feed a little sugar? It's not like he is diabetic or something.”

“Diabetic or not! This much sugar is not suitable for children.” I said, “And I won't allow anyone to poison my son!”

I intentionally emphasised ‘my son’ and Linda went on crying. “Why do you hate me so much, Stacy? I just love Leo because he is Taylor's nephew. I consider him as my own child. Is it wrong?”

“Stacy! You are going too far.” Jake snapped. “Linda didn't mean to hurt Leo. She has been taking care of him for the past two years when you were gone.”

“But, I have returned, haven't I?” I began, “Do you think she loves him more than I? If that is so, why don't you just announce her as Leo’s mother just like you mentioned it in his school?”

Jake's eyes widened in surprise. The realization made him flinch for a moment before he regained his calm as he said, “There must be a technical error, Stacy. Linda accompanied Leo in the school for his admission. So, they must have misunderstood her relationship with him.”

“Stacy, why do you hate me so much?” Linda sobbed, her face as pitiful as if she had been continuously bullied by me. “If you want I will stop visiting Leo and Jake. But, please don't put fake allegations on me. As Taylor's widow, I feel deeply hurt.”

Seeing tears in Linda’s eyes, Jake rushed to her side. He immediately pulled her in his arms as if deeply hurt to see her crying. He then looked at me, his eyes instantly darkened.

“That's enough, Stacy. Apologize to Linda right now!”

“Apologize for what, Jake? Speaking facts?” I asked, my eyes wet despite trying hard not to cry.

To say I was not hurt seeing him comforting Linda, would be a lie.

Even when I hated the man who stained our marriage and the morals by having physical intimacy with his brother's woman and decided to leave him for good, my heart bled seeing him holding her.

The man I chased for a decade had hugged another woman right before my eyes, wiping her tears off and kissing her gently yet he had the audacity to call me out for slandering her.

“I thought you were more mature than this!” He spat, “But, I can now see what kind of a woman you are, Stacy.”

While we were arguing, Leo’s small face twisted into pure rage. He grabbed the heavy Lalique paperweight from the console table—a gift Jake had given me for our third anniversary—and hurled it with a strength born of pure spite.

It caught me square on the temple.

The world didn't go black; it turned a searing, electric white. I felt the warm, sticky slide of blood beginning to mat my hair, dripping down my cheek and onto the cream silk of my blouse. I staggered, my vision fracturing into a kaleidoscope of pain.

"Leo! What have you done?" I gasped, clutching the banister as my knees buckled.

“You are not my Mommy, Mama Linda is!” He yelled, “Stay away from us.”

His whole body was trembling, not in fear but rage. Linda jumped to his side. Looking at Jake, she said, “Jake, Leo is shivering! We should get him to the hospital.”

He didn't look at the blood gushing from my head. He didn't look at the jagged gash that would undoubtedly leave a scar. Instead, he gathered Leo into his arms, shielding him as if I were a rabid animal.

"Stacy, for god's sake," Jake snapped, his voice vibrating with disgust. "Look at what you’ve done. You’ve terrified the boy so much he felt he had to protect himself."

"He... he hit me, Jake," I whispered, the floor swaying beneath me. "He’s bleeding me out, and you’re worried about his feelings?"

"It’s just a scratch," He spat before he rushed towards the front door, “You will be alright. But, Leo… he is a child.”

He left me just like that, bleeding. Linda tugged by his side, he started his car and left.

I stared at my hand that was dyed red in blood because of pressing it on my temple to stop the bleeding.

Now, I let the blood stream down as I grabbed the phone and dialed a number I thought I would never.

“You were right! There are people who are worse than you. Help me leave Jake Vance and his whole estate just like you did, Taylor.”

“In return, I’ll give you what you always wanted. My body.”

As I hung up the call, I recalled the old memories with Leo. Two years ago, I used to be his whole world. He did not leave by my side even for a second and always called me mommy, making me feel like the luckiest person on the planet.

I stared at the blood. I said, “Three years of affection, three years of making me feel the mother I always wanted to be, Leo, I repaid you today with my blood. After today, there will be no ties between us.”

Later that night as Jake walked into our room, he was stunned to see the deep cut on my forehead.

“Stacy…” his voice trembled for a moment. If I had not seen him with his brother’s woman, making out in the same bed he shared with me for three years, I would assume his shock was genuine.

“Why didn't you tell me your wound was this deep?” he rushed to my side after picking the first-aid box I had tossed around.

“Let me clean it for you.” He reached out to clean the wound. But, I brushed his hands off, saying in an indifferent voice, “It's merely a scratch, Jake. No need to worry.”

After throwing out these words, I got up in my chair. Making my way to the door, I said. “I’m going to sleep in the guest room. I’m feeling suffocated here.”

“Stacy…” he whispered, “Is this about the morning?”

“If you want Leo and me not to see Linda-”

“It's alright.” I cut him off, “I have no problem with it. After all, she raised him while I was away.”

He reached out to me. Holding my hands, he pulled me in his arms. The same arms that had held Linda hours before. The smell of her perfume still lingered around him and made me feel like throwing up. My gaze swept under his collarbone, a lipstick mark printed on it. The shade of lipstick Linda had worn today.

I quietly broke our hug.

As if a burden getting released, he took a sigh of relief.

“I knew it.” He said, “You have always been mature and kind. Elder Brother died before giving a child to Linda. It's our responsibility to make her feel comfortable. After all, she is a family member.”

“Is this so?” I asked, raising my eyebrows. “Do you only see her as your sister-in-law?”

A moment of hesitation flickered through his eyes. I could feel his heart skipping a beat before he regained his composure as he replied, “Linda and I have a history, Stacy. But, that's all in the past. The day after she got married to my elder brother, I never had any bad thoughts about her.”

He was lying on my face!

But, I did not expose him. I simply smiled and walked away.

The memories of our first night abruptly played in my head. That night, he came drunk. Undressing me, he threw me on bed, deflowered me and told me I was the only woman he loved.

But, the last word coming out of his lips, drained all the blood from my body. He whispered, “I love you… Linda. Please, don't leave me.”

That day, I knew Linda was his first love. But, she was his sister-in-law, and as an adopted child of Vance family, I knew how much value they gave to blood relation. I knew it was impossible between Jake and Linda.

Being blinded in love and affection I had for him since childhood, I believed I would change his heart. So what if Linda was his first love, I would be his last.

But, I was wrong.

I failed to win his heart. Despite sharing a bed with him for three years, from learning new skills just to impress him during the night to cooking meals and taking care of his chores, I could not shake the desire he had for Linda in his heart.

Looking back at me, I had really been living in delusion.

The sound of my phone’s vibration pulled me back from the Abyss of darkness as I looked at my screen. It was Taylor, the man I expected would be the last I would seek help from.

[Everything is planned. In the next three days, you will be dead to the entire world.] He had texted.

[There is no turning point after faking your death, Stacy. You still don't. Because no matter what I’m coming to get you even if it costs me everything I have built for years]

I quickly texted him before I threw my phone aside. [My decision is final. I’m leaving Jake and Leo for good. Never coming back.]

After I texted Taylor, I threw myself on the bed laid on the guest room. A small luggage was placed in the corner. I did not need to pack anything. I hadn't unpacked my stuff yet after arriving from Switzerland.

As I stared at the plane ceiling of the guest room, I told myself. Just three more days, hang on. After that, I’ll be free.